Gttard-filtgerjfor mowers



F. CRAWFORD.

GUARD FINGER FOR MOWERS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-b1918- Patented June 17, 1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED CRAWFORD, 0F PBOSS ER, WASHINGTON.

. GUARnFINGEaron MOWERS.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED CRAWFORD, citizen of the United States,residing at Prosser, in the county of Benton and State of Washington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guard-Fingers forMowers, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to guard fingers for mowers and harvesters andhas forits object the provision of a guard finger of such constructionthat the point may be removed when broken and a new point substitutedtherefor within a short space of time and without requiring theprovision of an entire finger. A further object of the invention is toprovide an improved construction whereby the point of the guard fingerand the stationary knife will cooperate to mutually retain both inposition.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and consistsin certain novel features which will be hereinafter first fullydescribed and thenparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In'the drawings- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a guard fingerconstructed in accordance with my present invention with the stationaryknife in position thereon;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section;

Fig. 3' is a transverse section 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the stationary knife;

' Fig. 6 is a detail perspective fragmentary view of the body portion ofthe guard fin- 'er;

b Fig. 7 is a detail longitudinal section of a portion of the guardfinger showing a slight modification.

The body 1 of the guard finger is tapered forwardly and has its rearportion provided with a horizontal plane surface 2 upon which thereciprocating cutter bar may slide and with a vertical shoulder 3 toguide said bar, the rear extremity of the finger being bifurcated, asshown at 4, and constructed to be engaged by an anchor bolt whereby itis secured in the finger bar in the manner fully set forth in LettersPatent No. 1,239,570, granted to me September 11, 1917.

The vertical shoulder 3 of the guard finon the line Specification ofLetters Patent. PafientedJun e 17, 1919 Application filed January 7,1918. Serial No. 210,682. 7

ger is provided at its center with a shallow notch 5, the purposeofwhich will presently appear, and in the upper portion -of the body 1 ofthe guard finger is formed a lon gitudinal recess or cavity 6, the'rearportion of which extends below the web presenting the vertical shoulder3 and in which the notch 5 is formed, a bridging bar 7 being thusproduced. The body is also provided on its upper side at the ends of thevertical shoulder 3 with lugs or stops 8 between which the rearextremity of the stationary knife 9 fits, rocking or twisting movementof the knife being thereby prevented. The front end of the body 1 isprovided with a threaded stem 10 having a flat upper side 11 which isunthreaded and is flush with the upper surface of the body, an abruptshol1lder 12 being thereby provided around the stem to serve as a stopor abutment for the point or tapered extremity 13 of the guard finger.The point 13 is constructed withv a threaded socket 14 in its shoulderportion 15 v whichsocket receives and engagesthe stem v10 of thebody 1and the upper wall of the said socket is smooth and slightly inclined,as shown clearly in Fig. 2, the several parts being so proportioned thatwhen the point is turned home the inclined smooth wall of the socketwill be opposed to the smooth fiat face 11 of the stem so that awedge-shaped pocket is provided to receive the tapered angular tongue 16projecting from the front end of the. stationary knife 9. 'The saidtongue consequently serves as a key tobind the point and the stemtogether as will be readily understood on reference to'Fig. '3 of thedrawings. The point is provided with the usual guard 17 to extendrearwardly over and in spaced relation to the knife 9 and when the pointis turned home its outer surface will be flush with the outer surface ofthe body and the shape of the combined point and body will be the sameas that of the guard fingers now ordinarily employed.

The knife 9 is of such form and dimens1ons as to rest upon and extendentirely over the upper surface of the body 1 so that shoulders 18 willbe provided, at the opposite sides of the tongue 16, which will engagethe inner shoulder 15 of the point at the sides of the pocket 14L andwill thereby serve to prevent relative twisting movement of the knifeand the point. At its rear end, the knife is provided with a centraldepending retainer or latch in the form of a resilient plate 19 havingits extremity turned forwardly, as shown at 20, so that it may passunder the bridge 7 and-engage against the under side thereof and by itsresiliency hold the knife against longitudinal movement, it being notedmore particularly upon reference to Fig. 2 that the under side of thebridge 7 is inclined orjbeveledslight-ly upwardly and forwardly and thefree extremity 20 of the latch is correspondingly shaped so that a firmbinding engagement will be effected.

In Fig.7, 1 have shown a slight modification of this arrangement inwhich the knife 21 is provided with a depending tongue '22 at its rearend to fit in the recess 5 flush with the surface 3 as in the previouslydescribed arrangement, but the extremity of the tongue 22 is turnedrcarwardly, as shown at 23, and rests upon the bottom of the recess .6and is secured against longitudinal movement by a stud bolt or screw 24:inserted through the said member 23 into the body of the guard finger.

In assembling the parts the point 13 is first turned home upon the stem10 after which the knife is slid forward so that the latch 1-9-20 willengage the bridge 7 and the tongue 16 will enter the pocket .14. Thetongue 1.6 will, consequently, act as a key to secure the point 13against all turning movement'and, consequently, the point cannot beaccidentally removed from the body of the finger. Should the point bebroken, however, by contact With a large rock or through some othercause, the knife may be easily slid backward after which the brokenpoint can be rotated so as to be'relieved from its engagement with thethreaded stem and a new point may then :be quickly placed upon thefinger and the knife returned .to its operative position. The device isexceedingly simple in its construction and the a r-- rangement of itsparts and will serve to prolong the life of the cutting apparatus, aswell as reduce the cost ofup-keep. The

parts can be assembled or disassembled in a few moments and veXatiousloss of time in the use'of the-machine will be overcome.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a guard finger, the combination of a body having a threadedmutilated stem at its forward end,o;a point having a threaded socket toengage said stem, and a knife held upon the body and vhaving its fronteXtremity interposed between the wall of said socket and the mutilatedportion ofthe stem, 7

guard fing c mprising a b y ha ing .a threaded stem t its front .end,

said stem having a flattened smooth side, ,a

point having a socket threaded to engage said stem and having a flatsmooth inclined Wall to coact with the smooth flat portion of the stemto format wedgeshaped pocket, and a knife removably held upon the bodyand provided at it-sfront end with a tongue tapered to enter said pocketand thereby key the point to t e body,

,3. A guardfingercomprising a body having a longitudinal recess andhaving a bridge over the rear portion of said recess provided --with a.shallow notch in its :rear side at its center, a point removably fittedupon the front end of the body, "a knife resting upon the body and saidbridgeand constructed at its front end to engage the point, and .aretainer at the rear endof the knife fitting with-in the saidshallownotch and extending within the saidlongitudinal recess.

i. A guardfinger comprising a body pro-- vided at its front end with astem, a point having a socket to detachably engage said stem, the upperportion .of the stem being chordal to the socket, and a knife held uponthe body and having its front extremity engaging between the chordalportion of the stem and the wall of the socket.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

FRED CRAWFORD; [1,. s]

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Sommissioner of Batents, W s n n, ,D- 0

